Sorry, I've never heard of those. I'm with you as I dislike strong minty products, even toothpaste. I've switched to kids' toothpaste which is milder.

jally, I have found that Costco carries a brand of cough drops I can tolerate nicely. Wedderspoon Manuka Honey Drops with lemon. They have very little flavor…even the lemon oil is practically undetectable. I find them soothing and pleasant tasting.

Hope that helps.

" When cooking i have to use Whole-cloves of garlic (if i dare slice them, i can wind up with flu that takes weeks to heal). "

Flu comes from exposure to a virus from another person. How could garlic be involved? Is this a typo?

I was also trying to figure that out.

What about those herbal, mild throat candies? I forgot the name. I think they might have been from some Alpine country — images of herbs and flowers on the packaging.

Yes, but an allergic reaction is not the flu.

How does garlic cause the flu? For weeks?

Flu doesn't last for "weeks". Nor does an allergic reaction.

The Swiss sweets are Ricola.

I was going to suggest Ricola as well. DH likes the original herb version but they have several sorts these days.

It is possible to be severly allergic to garlic. I have heard of it as an asthma trigger and of course once you have asthmatic inflammation it can last for weeks. I am surprised you could eat it with safety. I am merely intolerant of onions and garlic. It is digestive for me.

rhizo, interesting about Wedderspoon. I'm not a Cosco member.

The only Ricola i buy (so far) is the wildberry, but that gives me an acidic reaction, whereas the Celestial ones were less that way, as i recall. In other words, my mouth begins to fill with acidic saliva after sucking Ricola. I'm not sure if its the sugar or mint or both that causes that. I know there's the lemon-mint Ricola, but all i see is the diet version, and anyway, I'd prefer to try honey-lemon rather than lemon-mint. But I only see honey-lemon ones with Echinacea. Can the latter be irritating? I once tried honey-herb but didn't like the taste.

As for flu, to any of you who don't like that "unscientific" phraseology, shall i rephrase? I get a horrible reaction which mimicks flu or even pneumonia, and it hangs on for weeks. Along with a severe-hacking cough, irritated sinuses, and headache, my nose doesn't stop running. The best antitode for me, are thickening foods, high-lysine foods, and sticky foods, such as starches, eggs, french-toast, black-licorice, chocolate, tea+honey. But also mint, because it's cooling. So for that I can still resort to York peppermint-patties, as those i find soothing and less extremely minty, even if there's the inevitable heartburn afterward. Because Ricola (yes, even wildberry ones) are more extreme for me, than York patties are.

Responding to houzz-member "socks" - since you also don't tolerate mint well, I can't speak for others such as yourself insofar as York-patties. Maybe i'm the only mint-sensitive who finds York less extreme. Unlike you, I do use mint toothpaste, but i do prefer the milder ones and some which have baking soda. I even have a bit left of Burts Bee's Multicare from long ago, which I find moisturizing and refreshing.

P.S. At risk of feeding the trolls, some members of Houzz cause me to figuratively tug at my hair in frustration. Why don't they try jumping inside others' experiences for a change instead of confining themselves to black-and-white thinking, or their own experiences exclusively.

What about just using a hard candy, that can help with a cough. I've used the horehound candy for cough before. If you have a health food store near you, maybe try something unconventional there. They will have things that the grocery store may not have. Off topic but one time I bought the Vick's drops and OMG it was terrible, like eating Vick's Vapor Rub, I'll never buy those again...LOL!

Is this for sore throat? Or just for a pleasant sweet to suck? If it's for your throat have you tried glycerine and honey in hot water? You can add lemon but you say you don't like citrus so maybe try ginger.

Over here you can get blackcurrant throat sweets as an alternative to lemon but I don't think that's a popular flavour in the US.

Interesting. This is another physical reaction to some common ingredients that I had not heard about. I wonder how many restaurants could honor an allergy to garlic!

I don't think most throat lozenges are actually medicinal. A few have numbing effects (Sucrets, for example). I keep a numbing spray on hand for the rare extremely painful throat. It would be a shame if I couldn't use it due to the flavor.

Any small object in the mouth will increase saliva production to ease the throat, but you probably want something that tastes better than a marble. Maybe a gummy or Swedish Fish type candy?

RE: Vicks. DH's father was a true believer in Sloan's Liniment. I think the threat would scare you well.

Jally, I know that anything like a candy or fruit drinl with much citric acid can give me heartburn (acid stomach with reflux). Sleepytime herb-mint tea will really bother my stomach and esophagus.

If you have a mouth that is sensitive to some toothpaste formulations, you might want to look for one without Sodium Laurel Sulfate — that is the ingrediate that makes toothpaste sudsy or foamy, but I find it harsh.

There is a really good prescription toothpaste that does not have SLS — it is a formulation for dry mouth. Colgate Prevident, dry mouth formulation. I find it doesn’t ”bite.”

Years go I bought a tin (metal box) of soothing, gentle blackcurrent small throat ”drops.”

They base was not hard sugar candy, but glycerine, I believe. They were made outside the US but I bought them at a sort of country store place.

I see Walmart has them online. A tad pricey!

I might want to order some, but very expensive.I may yry to make a quasi copycat version for myself. I wonder how many are in the 3.75 oz tin.

patriciae, yes i was aware many people have abdominal issues from Raw onion/garlic. Yet it's not even acknowledged by allergists. By contrast, there are systems such as LIFE and SCIO that are way more sophisticated.

For example, see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Thlv8hjqA

floral_uk Ginger doesn't agree with me, and actually the Celestial honey-lemon drops did agree with me. So it's not so much about citrus but rather how companies formulate their products, so that they're properly balanced. For example, if a candy has only a "hint" of mint, it can become tolerable and less heartburny. And as i said before, York patties are less extreme too, and very healing. Also see:

https://www.creativehealthyfamily.com/chocolate-is-the-best-natural-cure-for-your-sore-throat/